Live dealers at 37,000 feet

Emirates Airlines’ in flight entertainment is pretty good. But when it was announced over the P.A. that Wi-Fi was available I immediately lost interest in browsing the movie menu.

Few hands of blackjack at 37,000 feet beckoned!

While the rather large man to my left coughed, sneezed, snorted and weezed; the kid to my right played tetris with way more gusto than necessary, and the one behind kept kicking my seat despite repeated glares, I relished the opportunity to be virtually transported away to a far more pleasant place. A table in Latvia. A smiling dealer and the chance to win a chunk of my airfare back.

Can’t wait until the dealer asks what the weather here’s like right now? ‘Ummm, sunny and about minus 40 celsius I think”.

Step 1: Get connected. Easy enough. Well done Emirates.

Step 2: Test the connection with a bit of casual surfing. It’s slow but might still be OK.

Step 3: Play.

Unfortunately this is where the plan fell apart.

Seems Emirates don’t want their passengers gambling while in flight. Visited a dozen or so live casinos and each time was met with the below blocked content message.